Water feed device



y 8, 1941- o. J. KUENHOLD, SR 2, 6

WATER FEED DEVICE Original Filed July 31, 1935 INVENTOR.

Offo J [Yuan/2076i 5/? ATTORNEY.

Patented July 8, 1941 UNITE TNT OFFICE WATER FEED DEVICE Otto J.Kuenhold, Sn, Shaker Heights, Ohio, as- Signor to Monmouth ProductsCompany, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a device for automatically supplyingquantities of water at intermittent intervals to a vapor entrainmentmedium in a humidifying system. The device embodying my invention isparticularly applicable to that particular type of humidifying operationwhere the water is supplied in the form of a spray.

Heretofore such spray type of water supplying devices and humidifyingsystems have included relatively complicated and expensive apparatus inorder to effect practical operation, and also have been subject to thedisadvantage of clogging of the spray nozzle orifice. It is the generalobject and nature of my present invention to provide an intermittentwater feed device wherein the necessity for relatively complicated,expensive and additional parts and equipment is eliminated, and alsowherein the likelihood of clogging of the spray nozzle orifice isdiminished due to a structure which requires that the pressure of thewater delivered to the spray nozzle is constantly varied within apredetermined range which variation is sufficient to dislodge theordinary foreign particles causing the clogging. Additional objects andadvantages of my invention shall become apparent as the followingdescription proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention,then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claim.

The annexed drawing and the following description set forth in detailcertain mechanism embodying the invention, such disclosed meansconstituting, however, but one of various mechanioal forms in which theprinciple of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing:

The single figure is an elevational View, partially in section, of adevice embodying my invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the conduit I leads from awater pressure supply, such as that derived from the customary citywater system to the pressure governor 2. The conduit 3 leads from thepressure governor 2 to the inlet in the upper housing 4 of the manualcontrol instrument. This manual control instrument includes a lower,transparent chamber portion 5 hermetically sealed to the upper housing4, and inlet orifice 6 whose size of opening is controlled by means ofthe needle valve 1. The needle valve 1 is threadably mounted in theupper housing 4 and has an adjusting wheel 8 on its upper end. The topsurface of the adjusting wheel 8 preferably includes an indicating dial(not shown) which is calibrated in gallons of water flow per day, sothat the operator can set the needle or metering valve to the desiredevaporation rate. This manual control instrument, just described, ispreferably located in the room or space to which the humidified air isdelivered. The conduit 9 leads from the bottom of the transparentchamber 5 to the intermittent valve housing It). The latter includes aninlet port ll having a raised valve seat I2 normally closed by theflexible diaphragm l3. The diaphragm 13 also extends over the annularentrance or chamber [4 communicating with the outlet port 85. Theconduit It leads from the outlet port it to the spray nozzle II. Amovable plunger or gravity actuated weight I8 is superimposed on top ofthe diaphragm I3. The vertical movement of the plunger I8 is guided bymeans of its shank I9 extending through the bore iii in the top of thevalve housing It.

This valve is so arranged and proportioned that it will snap open when apredetermined maximum inlet pressure is attained and will snap shut whenthe outlet pressure has dropped down to a predetermined minimum amount.As an example, it is designed to snap shut when the minimum pressure atwhich the spray nozzle I! can generate a good spray is reached, forinstance, 10 pounds per square inch; and it snaps open when a suitablemaximum inlet pressure, for instance, 20 pounds per square inch, isattained. The pressure governor 2 will then be set to deliver water at apressure sufiiciently above the opening pressure of the intermittentvalve to definitely assure unfailing automatic continuation of theintermittent action described.

The effective area of contact of water pressure through the inlet portIt upon the bottom side of the flexible diaphragm I3 is denoted by thedimension (1. The effective area of contact of the weighted plunger I8upon the upper surface of the flexible diaphragm I3 is denoted by thedimension b. The area b is of such proportion, relative to the weight ofthe plunger l8 that the diaphragm I3 would be forced down upon the valveseat I2 when the Water pressure on the under side of the diaphragm l3has decreased to the predetermined minimum or closing pressure. The areaa is of such proportion relative to the weight of the plunger l8 thatthe diaphragm will be forced away from the valve seat l2, thus openingthe valve, when the pressure in the inlet I I has increased to thepredetermined maximum or opening pressure.

Operation of the sight feed instrument in conjunction With operation ofthe intermittent valve ill will now be described. The drip feed will beset to supply water to the intermittent valve at for instance 100 dropsper minute. The intermittent valve may be assumed to be closed. Pressurewill therefore build up and the water level will rise in the glasschamber a? of the control instrument, compressing the air contained insaid chamber above its rising water level. As soon as this pressure hasreached an amount that even slightly lifts. the diaphragm i3 and plunger18 of the intermittent valve 58, some Water rushes into chamber M andits outlet being restricted either by passage IE3 or the neoessarilytiny port in the spray nozzle ll, or both, the pressure in chamber l4rises and this being eifective upon the entire bottom area b of theplunger raises it slightly which permits more Water to rush into chamberHi, thereby further increasing the pressure effective to lift theplunger l8. As a result, the valve snaps open the moment that theplunger lifts suflicient to pass even a few drops of water.

As soon as the plunger 18 snaps to open position, the compressed airabove the water level in chamber 5, ejects its water contents at a ratemuch faster than the rate of water drippage into it. The water pressurein the intermittent valve thereon quite rapidly descends. The plunger l8therefore presses the diaphragm l3 toward the valve seat I2 and as soonas the diaphragm contacts the valve seat, the rapidly descendingpressure in chamber 14 permits the plunger to tightly close the valve.The closing action is almost as sudden, according to ordinaryobservation, as the opening action. The entire cycle then repeats.

Ordinarilythe spray period lasts a few seconds and the off period lastsmuch longer, subject of course to the rate of water feed for which thecontrol instrument is set. This method, however, makes it possible tospray water into a furnace casing or air duct in hourly amounts verymuch smaller than is possible to achieve upon a commercially practicablebasis by any other method. With ordinary sprays, for a given volume ofwater to be sprayed per 24 hour period the intervals between sprayperiods would have to be so great that considerable fluctuations in themaintained humidity would occur.

Further important advantages of the intermittent valve method combinedwith my water feed control instrument are that the rate of drip feed canbe seen and the slowly rising and rapidly falling water level in thevisible feed chamber 5 show, not only that the spray is operating, butwhen it operates. Since the rate of drippage into the sight feed tubevaries according to the pressure variation therein, the graduations ofthe control wheel 8 will be spaced to show the average rate of waterfeed rendered by a given setting of the control knob.

This application constitutes a division of my copending applicationSerial No. 34,047 filed July 31, 1935, now Patent No. 2,166,414, grantedJuly 18, 1939, for Humidifying system. The device described herein isadapted to be incorporated and used with the humidifying systemdescribed in the aforesaid copending application.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employedinstead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanismherein disclosed, provided the means stated by the following claim orthe equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

In a water feed device for humidifying systems comprising a source ofconstant pressure water supply, a water delivery outlet, means forgradually building up pressure in said delivery outlet, said meanscomprising an atmospherically sealed transparent chamber having separatewater inlet and outlet ports, withthe inlet port at a higher level thantheoutlet port, and a needle valve associated with said inlet port andadapted to so control the passage of, water there through into thechamber as to cause it to fall in drops into said chamber.

OTTO J. KUENHOLD, SR.

